The Power of Small Company Shares

Through bull and bear markets over the past 60 years, small cap shares have, on average, beaten the FTSE All-Share by 500%.1
Whilst the FTSE 100 fell 5% last year, 52 shares in the UK doubled in price – and all but four of them were small companies.2
Within the small cap market, my research team has identified an unusual “5-T” group of shares, which we’re convinced will be incredibly strong performers.
Read on to discover: How our research method contradicts everything most “penny share” investors do… and how we believe it could multiply your wealth, without taking wild risks.
Dear Investor

Here at The Motley Fool we pride ourselves on our sensible approach to investing.

We don’t take crazy punts or jump on to “hot stocks”. We don’t pile into the latest market fads. We don’t believe in making fortunes overnight.

We’re way too sceptical and conservative for that.

Plus, we want to help you invest as safely as possible through market upheavals, like the one we’re seeing at the moment.

So… today I want to talk to you about finding some very special opportunities in small company shares.

Now this might sound like a contradiction, I know.

Let’s not forget… in the small cap market, shares can multiply your money by two, three, ten times, even fifty times or more – and also a fair number of companies fail completely and investors lose their entire stake.

Isn’t this going against everything that The Motley Fool stands for? And when the markets are pretty volatile, as they are now, isn’t this being a bit reckless?

The answer – and I don’t say this lightly – is an emphatic “No”.

The Motley Fool research team hasn’t turned into a bunch of gamblers. We aren’t blind to what’s happened in the markets over the past couple of weeks. And we haven’t abandoned our core, conservative investment principles. Far from it. We’re applying them even more diligently than usual.

Today I’m recommending that you seriously consider the small cap market…

…or, to be more precise, I’m recommending to you a select group of “5-T” small company shares which have very specific characteristics.

I’ll explain “5-T” shares in detail in a minute, and how they could make a BIG difference to your investment success. Specifically, I’ll show you how to:

Use the power of “5-T” small cap shares to potentially boost your returns and increase your profits.
Find the “5-T” small companies that are ruthlessly efficient money-making machines.
Apply the “5-T” approach to filter out dodgy businesses, poor management teams, losers and outright frauds – so that you can reduce the risks.
Invest in fast-growing, succesful companies with tremendous future potential.
Start today. Any UK investor – whether they have £1,000 or £10,000 or £50,000 – could use this approach. It’s easy to start with a small amount of money, and is simple to get going.
But first, let’s look at the big picture.

FACT: small company shares beat the wider market by over 500%!1

It’s a well-established fact that small company shares, on average, massively outperform the wider stock market.1

Over the last sixty years, through both bull and bear markets, £100 invested in the FTSE All-Share would have turned into a very respectable £82,000.

But that same £100 invested in UK small companies would have become an astonishing £494,000.

Six times as much!

Here’s the chart that proves it:

CHART SHOWING NSCI100 vs FTSE All-Share, 1955-2014
Source: London Business School, Numis with additional calculations by The Motley Fool. See footnote 1 for full details.

The red line represents UK small companies – and it soars way above the black line of the FTSE All Share.

In fact, because this chart is on a ‘log’ scale, the difference between the two lines appears a lot less dramatic than it really is. Look at the left-hand axis for the actual numbers: each horizontal line on the chart goes up by a factor of 10.
So what would these numbers actually mean for your money?

Well, with the average annual return from UK small companies you would have doubled your money in 5 years.

You would have tripled your money in 8 years. And in 10 years your money would have quadrupled. Yes, quadrupled.

And remember, this is not cherry-picking the best performers. This is using the average annual return from UK small companies. It’s taking account of all small companies – winners, middling ones and complete losers.

I’ll say it again: the average return from small companies is 6x better than that of the FTSE All Share, over the past 60 years.1

Any smart investor has got to be interested in this kind of long-term outperformance. I hope you are. I certainly am.

And if we take a different perspective and look at the stock market on a much shorter time-scale – the twelve months of 2015 3 – it only confirms the same truth: that it’s small cap companies that have produced the most dramatic results for investors…

The startling truth about the best-performing shares of 2015

Let’s look at the shares that went up by over 100% over the past year.

In other words, if you’d put £1,000 into one of these shares this time last year, it would now be worth at least £2,000.

During the whole of 2015 there were 52 shares on the London stock market that doubled in price.2

(Remember – this was a year when the FTSE 100 actually went down 5%.) 2

These 52 companies are enormously varied – everything from carpet manufacturers to property developers, from drinks suppliers to mortgage advisors, from biotechnology to energy companies.

Do you know how many of those 52 companies were from the FTSE 100? The answer: none.

And how many of those companies were from the FTSE 250? Just four.

The fact is that 48 of those 52 shares that doubled in price during 2015 were small company shares, each with a market cap of less than £700 million.

In fact a significant number of these 48 small companies did far more than double in price. Six of them tripled in price. Three of them quadrupled in price. And four went up more than five times in price. All inside twelve months.2

These 48 companies aren’t big at all. They’re not famous. And most investors have never even heard of them. For example, here’s a random selection…4

Trakm8 Holdings Up +307% in 12 months Fevertree Drinks Up +246% International Greetings Up +150% Victoria Up +148% The conclusion is pretty obvious.

Whether you look at long-term performance over 60 years… or you look at the shares that have made really huge returns over the past twelve months…

…if you want the possibility of getting some really impressive share price gains, UK small companies are the place I’d say you should be investing.

And, on top of this, with the special “5-T” group of small cap shares that my Motley Fool research team has identified, we think the argument for taking advantage of small company outperformance is irresistible.

The secret to successful investing in small caps

Now I’m sure you’re thinking – this is all very well, but nothing in investing is that easy.

Yes, of course there are some small companies whose shares rocket up, doubling, tripling or quadrupling in price very fast…

…but at the same time there are other companies that go completely bust, and small cap shares which plummet.

There are companies that mislead investors by cooking the books. There are others which are outright frauds from the start. And then there are ones which are simply badly run or hit a serious problem.

Take businesses like Globo, Concha, Quindell and Plus 500. (You may have heard of these, or read the coverage of them). Over the last couple of years when their story was hot, the shares soared – by six times, ten times or more. But when things subsequently went wrong, they crashed – and many investors lost all or a large chunk of the money they’d invested.

In other words, there are real risks in the small cap market. It can be a bit like the Wild West. You can make big gains. But there’s the risk of serious losses too.

This is all perfectly true.

Having invested in small caps myself for almost a decade, I’m acutely aware of the risks involved. I’m certainly not here to pull the wool over your eyes.

But my own experience tells me that, with the right approach, it’s perfectly possible for you to invest successfully and sensibly in small companies…

…whilst taking advantage of the much bigger gains, which far exceed what’s possible on the wider stock market. Six times bigger than the FTSE All Share, as we’ve seen.

So what’s the secret?

The fact is, many private investors take completely the wrong approach to small company investing.

They have the wrong ideas about it. They don’t fully appreciate the risks or have any way of managing them sensibly. And they don’t really do any research, but simply buy in to the latest ‘hot tip’ or convincing story – often based on nothing more than skilful company PR, investor gossip or excitable discussions on internet bulletin boards.

And this is a HUGE element of why things can go wrong.

I’m not denying that small cap investing can be risky. It can be. And I’m not saying that the risks are all down to investor ignorance or naivety. They’re not.

But small cap investing doesn’t have to be anything like as risky as most investors make it. Far from it.

If you have a clear, well-thought out approach… if you’re smart about how you handle the risks… if you don’t make rash decisions… and, very importantly, if you have a well-developed research method for identifying good companies and filtering out the bad ones, then you can drastically improve your chances of being successful.

This is the crux of the approach that our research team takes, here at The Motley Fool, when we set about identifying “5-T” shares.

And I strongly believe that this will set you far, far apart from most other investors in the small cap market… and could set you up for market-beating performance over the years to come.

With “5-T” shares, we’re looking to reap the power of small company outperformance to:

dramatically boost our returns
whilst only investing in well-run, successful companies…
and keeping the risks to a minimum.

Let me explain how we do that… and then I’ll reveal what these “5-T” companies look like.

The exact opposite of what many small cap investors do: our distinctive investment philosophy

Here at The Motley Fool we have a clear, distinctive investment philosophy.

It drives everything we do. It’s instilled into all our analyst training. It’s lived and breathed by our research teams. And it’s applied to every single one of our services and to all our investment recommendations.

The proven success of The Motley Fool investment philosophy

Here at The Motley Fool, we have applied our philosophy of “investing like business owners” for decades, through all kinds of markets… From the hype of the dotcom bubble to the subsequent crash, and from the boom years of the early 2000s to the financial crisis of 2008, all the way up to the present.

The market has been on a roller-coaster ride, but The Motley Fool investment method has proven its effectiveness.

The proof? Our main introductory investing service, Share Advisor, is comprehensively beating the market – with a return that’s more than FIVE TIMES the FTSE All-Share since it was launched.5
It can be summed up in five words:

“We invest like business owners”.

Just one short line. But it has huge significance for the investment recommendations we give you.

And it has particular significance for the way we identify “5-T” small companies – the ones we think will generate great returns – because it is the exact opposite of how most investors go about investing in small caps!

“Investing like business owners” means two things.

Firstly, it means that when we look at a company, we are primarily interested in it as a business. And secondly, we are thinking about it as owners, who expect to be involved for a long time.

This is very different from what many investors do – especially in the small cap market.

We’re thinking long-term. It’s the fundamentals of the business that we’re focussed on. And we do extensive research – usually over many months, and sometimes following a company for years before we think the time is right to make an investment.

We’re not thinking like short-term investors or traders. We’re not poring over share price charts in the hope of spotting a quick trend. We’re not looking to jump on the latest investment fad or bandwagon. We don’t get over-excited by rumours, gossip and the smooth talk of PR teams.

Essentially, we’re avoiding many of the things that get a lot of private investors into trouble with small caps…

DO! Fully understand each company and its business.
DO! Extensive, in-depth research.
DO! Only invest in companies with a proven, succesful business model.
DO! Think like an owner, not an investor.
DO! Think long term – looking five or ten years ahead.
When we take away the risky investment behaviour (all the points to Avoid), and instead act as intelligent, patient, smart investors (all the points to Do), then I believe this puts us in an extremely strong position.

And with this approach as our starting point, we then go on to identify what we believe are the very best opportunities in the small cap market: the special group of “5-T” small company shares.

The hidden power of “5-T” small company shares

So… what is it that makes a great small business – one which will hopefully provide us with an outsize share price rise compared to the main market?

This is the question that my research team and I set out to answer.

Our eventual conclusion emerged from our many years of combined investment experience, our extensive understanding of stock markets and company analysis, and also after lengthy research into the small cap market.

In the end we identified five key traits of a great small business – five traits that we believe are very strong indicators of high quality and huge potential.

As we see it, these five traits are the best signs that a company has a real prospect of rapid growth and a dramatic increase in profits over the next few years… leading to a big rise in the share price.

And companies which have these five powerful key traits, or most of them, are our “5-T” small company shares:

KEY TRAIT #1:
They are highly efficient at making the best use of their assets.
Indicator: a track record of extremely high returns on capital (ROC).

KEY TRAIT #2:
They are already successful, proven businesses.
Indicator: A history of strong cash profits.

KEY TRAIT #3:
They are extremely well run.
Indicator: Strong management with excellent track record, who are well-incentivised.

KEY TRAIT #4:
They have a dominant position over their competitors.
Indicator: Operating in a lucrative niche or unique business position.

KEY TRAIT #5:
They have the potential to rapidly expand.
Indicator: Business model that allows replication, nationally or internationally.
Hopefully just reading these five key traits starts to give you a feeling of confidence.

Highly efficient… a history of success… great management… a dominant position… the potential for rapid expansion…

These are very powerful business strengths.

Clearly, when my Motley Fool research team and I identify a company with these traits, we’re not talking about a highly speculative “penny share” punt. We’re not being reckless. We’re not gambling. We’re looking at a business that’s already working, and working well.

This is a very important point.

In the course of our research, if we come across an exciting start-up with a clever idea, but find that it has hardly any customers and no profits – then it wouldn’t pass our test. We would put it aside. That’s not a real business yet. It’s a mere hope.

Conversely, even when we do find a company that is profitable and the business looks promising, if we don’t like the track record of the senior management team, then we’ll move on.

We will only invest in businesses that are already established, successful and well-run. Plus – just as important – we’ve identified them as having a huge capacity to grow.

These are the kind of small companies that we’re interested in. For us, these are the ones that are really exciting – the small companies of today which have a real chance of becoming the great businesses of tomorrow.

The fact is, it takes a lot of work to find them. Over the last eight months we’ve done in-depth research on over 60 small companies. Out of that 60, we’ve only picked a handful as definitive ‘Buy’ recommendations for our readers. But when we eventually find them, it’s definitely worth it.

And if you’re interested in taking this further, you can receive the latest investment report I’ve written, containing three of our top “5-T” share recommendations. More on that in a moment.

For now, let me give you an example of how all our research can pay off… how we are dedicated to selecting truly high quality businesses… and how one of our “5-T” traits is only true of small companies that far exceed the standard of the average FTSE 100 company – a fact which should make any investor want to look more closely.

To illustrate, let’s take a quick look at the first of our five key traits, which is…

Is this company highly efficient at making the best use of its assets?

This trait is most famously used by Warren Buffett to judge the quality of a company. In fact it’s one of his favourite measures.

It’s also relied on by other well-known investors like Terry Smith, who runs one of the UK’s best-performing global equity funds. And obviously it’s vitally important to us here in The Motley Fool research team.

To judge this trait in practice, what we do is look at the company’s “return on capital”, or ROC.

Now if you’re not familiar with this kind of investment analysis using financial ratios, don’t be put off. There’s a simple explanation.

Essentially “return on capital” is a measure of how effectively a company generates profits from all of its assets – its cash, its property, its machinery, its computers, its brand, its logos and so on.

A high return on capital means that the company is extremely efficient at making money. With our Motley Fool “5-T” companies, this is a key requirement.

And the numbers prove that, with the “5-T” group of companies we’ve identified, we’re definitely coming up with something distinctive. Something that should make any smart investor pay attention.

Let me demonstrate.

Let’s compare the average return on capital for the FTSE 100, for the AIM market (over 1,200 small companies)… and for the companies we’ve selected for our “5-T” group.

Remember – the higher the number, the better.

Under 10% is pretty poor. 10% – 12% is OK. 12% – 15% is good. And anything above 15% is very special.

The comparative numbers look like this:

FTSE 100
+10% ROC
AIM
-13% ROC
Motley Fool “5-T” Group
+15% ROC 6
As you can see, by our criteria the average return on capital in the FTSE 100 is just about OK. It’s 10%.7

The overall AIM market is a complete disaster, with a negative number. Minus 13%.7 That’s because, when they last reported their accounts, two-thirds of AIM companies were actually spending more than they were making. (Yes, it’s true).

But the average return on capital for our “5-T” group of companies far exceeds both the FTSE 100 and AIM, and hits our “very special” level of 15%.7

In other words, the companies we’ve identified are extremely effective “money-making machines”. Usually it’s because they have a great business model, are dominating a niche sector, and are run by superb managers… and thus they churn out money.

As investors, that’s exactly what we’re looking for – a well-honed business machine, that’s working at optimum capacity. With the business fundamentals working so well, this gives us a great deal of confidence that we’ll see a great share price performance – assuming that other factors we require are also in place.

Obviously looking at return on capital is just one element of our research process – our first key trait. There’s a lot, lot more to our research than this.

But I hope this example demonstrates to you the quality of the research that we’re doing, and gives you confidence in our selections – with only a handful of companies actually making it through to our “Recommended Buy” list.

Just as important: cutting out the duds, losers and frauds

The downfall of Globo… and how The Motley Fool team saw it coming

Shares in Globo, a phone software company, multiplied 5x between 2009 and 2013. It looked like a tremendous small cap success story.

But things weren’t quite what they seemed – and The Motley Fool research team saw the warning signs ahead of time. In January 2015, we published an article on our free website highlighting a disparity between the company’s reported profits and free cash flow. This prompted a furious response from Globo’s PR team, demanding a retraction, but we stuck to our guns.

Later that year, in October, we specifically cited Globo as a stock to avoid. With ongoing investor interest in the company, we felt we needed to warn our readers of the dangers we could see. A few weeks later, following revelations of dodgy accounting, Globo shares plummeted by 36%, and were then suspended entirely from the market.

As part of our ongoing research efforts, we continually update a list of “Shares to avoid”, to help keep our readers safe from some of the risks of the small cap world.
There is one other vital thing that I will say about our rigorous research: it helps us to eliminate the real duds.

In the small cap market this is particularly important, because the relative lack of scrutiny, compared with larger companies, means that unscrupulous owners and management do try to take advantage of investors – and sometimes get away with it.

(I mentioned a few recent cases of dodgy accounting and outright fraud – Globo, Concha and Quindell – a little earlier. You do need to be careful.)

Of course I can’t guarantee that our research methods are infallible, or claim that we’ll always spot something underhand. But our thorough research makes it far less likely that we’ll end up investing in businesses that are more hype than substance:

Dodgy management? We always check the track record of the senior company executives. Which companies have they been involved with? What happened? If we find anything fishy, we steer clear.
Big plans, but few customers? We never invest in a company if it isn’t already successful.
Complete fraud, sustained by PR and hype? If we don’t understand what a business does, we don’t invest in it. And if the numbers or management smell funny to us, then we won’t touch it.

We evaluate the hard numbers, and also look closely at more intangible elements like a company’s dominance of its sector and its capacity to grow. And we carefully weigh everything up before making any investment recommendations to our readers.

The whole purpose being to help you avoid the dud businesses, and instead put your money in the great ones – hopefully for market-beating profits.

Three of our top “5-T” companies, and how you can invest in them

Since I first introduced these ideas about small cap investing to a small group of our readers, eight months ago, we’ve had an extremely positive response.

Some private investors are clearly very intrigued by the promise of investing in small caps, but feel a little intimidated or too inexperienced to go it alone. For them, our in-depth approach to selecting “5-T” small company shares, along with the recommendations we make, has an immediate appeal.

And now I’d like to offer the same opportunity to you.

To start with, I’ve written up an investment report which reveals three of our top “5-T” share recommendations, along with our research findings and reasons for investing.

This special report is available for you, right now.

In fact, I’m so confident in our research that I’ve invested £30,000 of my own money into one of these shares.

Our report includes full details of:

“5-T” SMALL COMPANY RECOMMENDATION #1
A low-profile, niche manufacturer with a reputation for excellence, and an outstanding track record of creating wealth for its shareholders.

It has a highly experienced management team, who have increased sales over six times. Plus the company’s return on capital has been over 18% over the last 10 years – definitely falling into our ‘very special’ category.

“5-T” SMALL COMPANY RECOMMENDATION #2
Operating in a sector worth billions, this ground-breaking software company has proven so successful with its innovative solutions that it’s captured over 25% of its current main market.

It has highly predictable revenues, potential pricing power and rapid growth – with a 75% increase in new business over the last year. We have high hopes for this one.

“5-T” SMALL COMPANY RECOMMENDATION #3
Operating in an obscure niche sector involving technical equipment, this company has expert management who have mastered the art of making extremely smart acquisitions.

It has high profit margins, high return on capital, and is growing rapidly. And our research team thinks there is a lot more to come.
From the average investor’s point of view, these aren’t sexy companies. Most people have never heard of them. They don’t operate in the public eye. And they work in rather ‘dull’ areas.

We don’t care about any of that. In fact, if anything, it’s a plus. It means that they get completely overlooked by most of the investment world.

Three “5-T” Small Cap Shares To Own Today.
What we’re focussed on is this: Are these great businesses, generating wealth and returns for shareholders and with the potential for serious growth over the next few years? And with these three companies, our answer is a resounding Yes.

You can receive all the details of these three companies in my investment report, Three “5-T” Small Cap Shares To Own Today.

But there’s also one more thing I’d like to offer you.

If you just want to sign up to receive the investment report that gives you these three “5-T” shares, that’s perfectly fine. Read the report, find out everything we’ve discovered about our three recommended companies, and decide whether or not you want to invest in them.

However if that’s all you do, you would be missing out on something potentially far more valuable.

As I mentioned a moment ago, I first introduced our “5-T” small cap investment strategy to our readers about eight months ago. Many people immediately responded and wanted to know more.

And with a select group of investors we now work closely together, in a way that has proven to be extremely rewarding.

Your chance to join an exclusive group of investors — and what they have to say

The situation is this…

It’s one thing being a private investor who wants to get involved with small company shares and their potential for market-beating returns. Since you’ve read this far, I take it that this applies to you.

But it’s quite another thing for you to actually find the right small companies to invest in, and have the confidence to make those kind of decisions by yourself.

Where do I begin? How do I go about it? What sort of research should I do? What should I really be looking for? Should I concentrate on particular sectors? How do I tell the difference between a mediocre company and a great one?

These are the kinds of difficult questions that you face. If you don’t have a lot of investment experience, or a lot of time, it’s not that easy to make this work successfully on your own. Don’t get me wrong – it’s perfectly possible, and I’m all for encouraging people to do it. But it does take time, effort, study and experience.

On the other hand, there is a much easier way.

It’s simpler, less time-consuming, more likely to be successful, less stressful and also more fun if you have knowledgeable people around – people who can give you help, guidance and the benefit of their years of investment experience… and – even better – give you the results of their in-depth small cap research, along with specific investment recommendations.

For this reason, and because of the obvious demand, The Motley Fool research team and I have made ourselves available to a select group of investors who want to pursue the exciting opportunities in the small cap market.

Essentially it means that you have three investment professionals working for you day in, day out – providing you with regular investment recommendations, explaining the results of all our research, and available to answer your questions at any time.

And, in case you’re wondering, it all comes at a fraction of the cost that it would take for you to gain access to similar professional analysts and researchers in the City.

A select group of investors has taken us up on this offer since last year, and we’ve had some extremely positive feedback. To give you a flavour, here’s what some of them have had to say:

I like the effort [The Motley Fool research team] put into their research which is visible in the write-ups of every recommendation. I like their honesty and their transparency… You guys are brilliant.” – M.E., Leicestershire.

Very satisfied with both your analysis and explanations. Also like the timely manner that you are answering questions presented to you on shares that you recommend… Very pleased. As each [recommendation] has been announced I can see the potential being uncovered by the team.” – B.S., Oxfordshire.

The concept is attractive: blue chips tend to be overvalued as required for funds and “low risk” investors. Small caps are under-researched and if reliably selected offer greater growth potential…. Your selections have been good…. The information is well researched and if used should easily cover the fee.” – J.S., Guernsey.

[This service] has given me the opportunity and confidence to broaden my horizons… Excellent and very readable – as usual.” – T.C., Buckinghamshire.

Serious research, and [I have] confidence in the team that provides the recommendations… Benefit of experienced professionals in the investment business giving recommendations and discussion of investments.” – B.G., Glasgow.

Researching very interesting companies takes much time and effort – more than I am able to provide. It is so much easier to follow someone else’s suggestions and expert advice!” – P.T., Gloucestershire.

Insight and information I would find difficult to obtain on my own… Research is good, and thought provoking.” – A.D., London.

Obviously I’m flattered by the positive feedback and very grateful for the compliments. But I haven’t cited these remarks simply to show off. What I hope this feedback demonstrates is the quality of the service that we’re offering – a service which I’m now inviting you to receive too.

You could share the positive experience of these investors, and also start investing confidently in the small cap market – with The Motley Fool research team as your guide.

But clearly you need to know more about what’s on offer. So let me spell out in detail what The Motley Fool research team and I could do for you…

FOR YOU: our very best small cap investment research, recommendations, support and guidance, week in, week out

Time for a brief introduction.

Mark Rogers
My name is Mark Rogers, and I’m the Chief Investment Advisor of The Motley Fool UK.

Together with my two analysts, Mark Stones and Zach Coffell, we make up The Motley Fool UK’s small-cap research team. It was the three of us who developed the strategy for identifying “5-T” small company shares.

And now with our small cap service for private investors, we really want you to benefit from the hidden power of “5-T” shares and the chance of market-beating returns.

We decided to call this service “Hidden Winners” – in reference to the little-understood world of small caps and their amazing potential.

Essentially our aim with Hidden Winners is to help you get richer and help you become a smarter, more confident investor.

Obviously the crucial element is that we regularly give you our very best “5-T” small company share recommendations, based on our ongoing, in-depth research. These are shares we believe could multiply many times over, during the years ahead.

But just as important is that you fully understand the reasons for our investment recommendations… that you are kept updated about any developments in the market and with our shares… that you have our professional support… and that you are able to ask us questions whenever you need to.

So with Hidden Winners, we provide you with a complete range of resources, research reports, share recommendations and frequent updates – plus access to the research team to ask us questions at any time – so that you can always feel confident and in control of your investment decisions.

Let me give you the exact details.

If you decide you’d like to become a member of our comprehensive Hidden Winners investment service, you’ll receive all of the following recommendations, resources, research and ongoing professional support for as long as you want:

Three investment reports to start you off. Sign up now, and we’ll immediately send you The Small Cap Starter Kit, The Hidden Power of “5-T” Shares, and Three “5-T” Small Cap Shares To Own Today. This is our starter pack and your introduction to the exciting world of small company investing – including three of our best share recommendations you can invest in right away.

One new, high-quality “5-T” share recommendation, once a month. We are constantly researching the small cap market, analysing companies, working out where the best opportunities lie, and applying our demanding selection process. Once a month we’ll send you, via email, our very latest and best “5-T” share recommendation.

Your weekly issue of the Hidden Winners bulletin – updating you on the performance of our recommended companies, market movements, company updates, management interviews, and more. Easy to read and full of fascinating insights into small caps missed by most investors, you’ll look forward to our regular letters. Delivered by email every Thursday.

The ‘Hidden Track’ audio podcast, where the Hidden Winners research team (myself, Mark Stones and Zach Coffell) discuss what’s going on with our shares, the small cap market in general, practical questions about investing, and the latest developments in our hunt for “5-T” small companies. It’s an entertaining listen, and an accessible way for you to become familiar with the small cap market. Monthly, streams directly from Hidden Winners website.

Our latest research reports on companies we’ve investigated. With all the small company research we do, we want you to have full access to our latest ideas, discoveries and the fascinating companies we’ve found. If you would rather keep the amount of information down, you needn’t read these additional reports – you can simply follow our monthly ‘Buy’ recommendations and updates. But for the keen small cap investor, our research reports highlight all sorts of interesting companies and show you our selection process in action.

Shares to avoid. This is a vital section of the Hidden Winners ‘universe’ – where we have researched certain companies, found something worrying, and come to the conclusion that you shouldn’t put your money anywhere near them. The first rule of investing is “Don’t lose money”. So keep a close eye on our ‘Avoid’ list and we’ll help you as best as we can to keep safe.

Ongoing access to the Motley Fool Hidden Winners research team, to answer your questions. If you’re confused about anything, disagree with something we’ve said, or have a practical question about small cap investing, just get in touch with us via the website’s dedicated comments section – and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can. Mark Stones, Zach Coffell and I (Mark Rogers) are always here to help.
We can’t give you personal advice about your own investments, I’m afraid, but we can certainly help you with any questions apart from that. And we always welcome feedback on the Hidden Winners service – so if you think something can be improved, please let us know. (And just to say, we always like to hear positive feedback too!)

The Hidden Winners Universe. This is a summary of all the companies that we’ve researched, including buy recommendations, those on our watch list, and the duds that we advise you to avoid – so that you can read and review our thinking about them. If you’ve missed anything we’ve done, or you aren’t clear about our view of a particular company, it’s easy to catch up here. Available to view on our members’ website.

The Hidden Winners members’ website. Here you’ll find everything we’ve ever said, done, written, recommended, criticised, applauded, scorned and laughed about concerning small company shares. It’s a huge treasure trove of information – full of articles, issues, updates, videos, charts and tables. And if you just want a small selection, it’s easy to find your way around. Once you’re a member, you’ll receive the login details.

The Hidden Winners scorecard. This is the summary of all the shares we’ve recommended as ‘Buys’, tracking their performance and measuring how we’re doing against the FTSE All Share. View it on our website.

I believe this is a truly comprehensive, high-quality investment service, covering everything that a private investor needs to start investing in the small cap market intelligently, with confidence, and ultimately with great success.

OK, so now down to brass tacks. What does this all cost?

If you signed up with a stockbroker for an “advisory” service, where you’d receive advice on your portfolio, regular stock ideas, and access to research, this could cost you a fee of many hundreds of pounds, or even thousands a year, depending upon the size of your portfolio.

Now I admit this is not an exact comparison. With Hidden Winners we can’t give you personal investment advice about what to do with your money – we simply provide you with our share recommendations and research, and you make your own investment decisions. So in this way we’re different from an advisory stockbroker.

Having said that, I wanted to give you an idea of what’s available to you as a private investor, if you’re looking to receive regular share recommendations, research and ideas… and how much the fees could be.

Just to reassure you straight away – our Hidden Winners service doesn’t cost anything like this much.

I strongly believe in the huge value that we’re offering with Hidden Winners. The list of resources, research, recommendations and support I’ve just outlined is very substantial. And I do think, if you simply try out our service, you’ll be immediately convinced of its value too.

For that reason I’ve made it as easy as possible for you to give Hidden Winners a trial – with absolutely no obligation – starting right away…

Try out our Hidden Winners complete small cap service today, with no obligation whatsoever

As I’ve just said, if you were to sign up with an advisory stockbroker, it could easily cost you a basic fee of many hundreds or even thousands of pounds a year.

By contrast, I’d like to give you the chance to use the Hidden Winners service — and if you don’t like it after you’ve tried it, it will have cost you nothing.

I’m inviting you to try out Hidden Winners with no obligation for one month.

That means for a full month you’ll get all of the member benefits I listed a moment ago – including three “5-T” share recommendations to get you started immediately – and if you’re not completely convinced, you can cancel at any time.

I think this is a fantastic offer. You really have nothing to lose. After the month is up, you might decide that Hidden Winners is great and you want to keep going with it. And if you don’t, that’s perfectly fine and it will have cost you nothing.

So what happens if you do want to continue with our service after the one month trial?

I have to admit that we did consider charging a high membership price for Hidden Winners, given the time, effort and expertise that goes into it – and also considering the hefty price of the investment services on offer from mainstream financial institutions.

But I really don’t want the price to exclude the average private investor from we do.

For you to sign up to our Hidden Winners service today will actually cost you a fraction of the advisory stockbroking services that I’ve just quoted.

Don’t forget… you’ll be getting the benefit of a research team of three investment professionals, working day in, day out on your behalf – giving you “5-T” share recommendations, full access to everything they do, and always available to answer your questions.

It’s an amazing amount of professional investment support, helping you to navigate the exciting world of small caps.

Even so, a year’s membership of the Hidden Winners service costs just £199. That’s the annual fee we charge.

But wait… because you don’t even have to pay that.

I really want Hidden Winners to be as accessible as possible. And since you’re completely new to our service – and I’m convinced that you’ll stay with us – I’m prepared to give you a huge 35% discount off the usual fee for the entire first year of membership.

This means that you need only pay £129 for your first 12 months of access – less than £2.50 a week, or the price of a decent cup of coffee.

And please remember: this is not a decision you need to make now. You get a full month to try out our service, with absolutely no commitment.

I really can’t stress enough how good I think this offer is.

Sign up to Hidden Winners here, and you will immediately receive:

Your three ‘starter’ investment reports, including Three “5-T” Small Cap Shares To Own Today.
Login details for full access to our members-only website.
All our Hidden Winners research and resources, including every share recommendation we’ve made, “Shares to avoid”, video discussions, and all our articles and practical tips.
Access to me and my research team, for whenever you want to ask us a question.
And of course you’ll also be signed up to receive our regular email issues, updates and alerts over the coming days and weeks.
Just see how you like our service over the coming four weeks, and if it doesn’t suit you for any reason, simply contact us at any time within that month and we’ll cancel your subscription immediately. It will have cost you nothing.

Should you choose not to continue with the Hidden Winners service, you’ll obviously be able to keep your three ‘starter’ investment reports and all the email issues and updates we’ve sent you during the month, with my compliments.

Remember… small cap shares are proven to massively outperform the wider market by six times.1 With our “5-T” shares, we believe we’re picking the very cream of the crop.

And you can have the Motley Fool Hidden Winners research team working day in, day out for you, to uncover the small cap shares we believe will be tremendously good investments.